Gig review: Ed Sheeran

ED SHEERAN may be the busker bloke who got lucky in the hit parade, but he wears his pop-star-next-door robes quite comfortably, never once looking lonely as he helmed the biggest stage in Scotland with just an acoustic guitar to shake the room. Or maybe that was just the boomy acoustics.

Ed Sheeran seemed to deliver what his audience wanted with just his acoustic guitar. Picture: Getty

Ed Sheeran

Hydro, Glasgow

***

Broadly speaking, Sheeran songs conform to one of two types – drippy sensitive guy ballads typified by the whiny, moony likes of Lego House and The A Team and the acoustic rhythm’n’blues jams which make up in groove what they lack in tuneage and appear to elicit a more soulful vocal tone from the terminally straight Sheeran.

Typically these numbers were built up layer on layer using his loop pedal, allowing for some hands-free movement around the stage and greater interaction with the crowd. But once the trusty six-string was laid to one side, Sheeran seemed unsure what to do with his hands, borrowing a Saltire from a fan to flap around awkwardly.

Declaring himself a fan of the Highlands and whisky, he made a decent stab at covering Wild Mountain Thyme. If only his own melodies were as sweet and affecting. They did for this crowd though, content with the lusty chant and falsetto funk of the MC Hammer-referencing Sing and the pseudo-bluesy storm stirred up on the otherwise thin jingle You Need Me, I Don’t Need You.

Seen on 30.10.14